A broadband, low-loss and polarization-insensitive 3 dB optical power splitter based on adiabatic tapered silicon wave-guides is proposed and investigated. 3D-FDTD simulation results show that the splitter achieves an output transmission efficiency of nearly 50% over an ultra-broad wavelength range from 1200 to 1700 nm. The device is fabricated, and experimental results show that the splitter exhibits a low excess loss of <0.19 dB for the TE polarization and <0.14 dB for the TM polarization over the entire measured wavelength range from 1530 to 1600 nm, while having an adiabatic taper length of only 5 mu m. In addition, the measured power uniformity of the cascaded 1 x 8 splitter is only 0.47 dB, and 0.17 dB for the TE and TM polarizations, respectively. With the advantages of low loss, broad bandwidth, and compact size, the proposed splitter is a promising element for large-scale silicon integrated photonic circuits. (C) 2016 Optical Society of America
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